Bird of the Month: Orange-bellied Trogon

The Orange-bellied Trogon (Trogon aurantiiventris) has one of the most restricted ranges among the trogons, found in foothills and highlands forest from Costa Rica to central Panamá.

Like others members of this family, these birds spend most of their time perched quietly, and are frequently overlooked due to this habit, except if they are vocalizing.  These birds have characteristic calls that are one of their most important field mark actually.

Important field marks are also the color of the orbital ring and the undertail pattern.  They exhibit sexual dimorphism, as you can see here.  Usually the females are duller overall, sometimes exhibiting different undertail patterns as in this case.

We can't talk about the Orange-bellied Trogon without talking about a close relative: the Collared Trogon.  Both species are sympatric (except in central Panama where the Collareds are absent) and share similar niches. Beside the color of the underparts (red in the Collared Trogon) and minor differences in tail pattern, these two species are very similar, including their voices.  Some authorities consider the Orange-bellied as a localized color form of the Collared, but until now they are both considered full species.

For these, and many other reasons is why we chose the Orange-bellied Trogon as our bird of the month!

Literature consulted:
1.  Angehr G, Dean R.  The Birds of Panama.  A Field Guide.  2010.
2.  Ridgely R, Gwynne J.  A Guide to the Birds of Panama. 1993.
3.  Remsen JV, et al.  A classification of the birds of South America. AOU. Version 20-may-2013.

PAS Fieldtrip to Altos del María

Last month, the Panamá Audubon Society (PAS) organized the annual fieldtrip to the foothills of Altos del María.  This gated community, located in the foothills of western Panama province, gained relevance few years ago when the birders started to report western species not readily found in the mountains just to the east (Altos de Campana) or to the west (El Valle for example).  Surely it has something to do with the great accessibility to higher and well preserved cloud forests.  Alfred Raab, an Altos' resident, guided a group of 14 PAS members through these forests during this two-days trip.  However, Osvaldo Quintero, Rafael Luck, Itzel Fong and your blogger host only participated the first day.

After meeting in the town of Sora, we followed the group to our first destination, a spot close to the Valle Bonito's gate where we saw/heard some common species.

The Common Bush-Tanagers were, indeed, common.  We crossed several flocks, sometimes mixed with others foothill tanagers, like Silver-throated and Black-and-yellow Tanagers.  The form present there is of the distinctive subspecies punctulatus, recognized by its dark head and brighter orangish breast.  Also notice the distinctive shape of the post-ocular dot.

This Lineated Woodpecker was very cooperative and entertained us while we were waiting for the main attraction.

After some minutes, we found the specialty of the area: at least two males Snowcaps were around, stoping often in some skinny branches too far away for photos, but enough for terrific views through my binoculars.  The white crown is an special feature, readily evident in my poor photo.

We moved to higher forests, around 1000 meters above sea level.  It is obligatory to take a photo with the Picacho peak in the background, as Itzel did with my phone camera.

It was a little cloudy but fresh... and we found lots of activity.  More tanagers flocks, both Thick-billed and Elegant Euphonias, Olive-sided Flycatchers, and one (or more?) Rufous Mourner that seemed to be following us.

Notice how foggy it was in the above photo... however, the weather proved to be quite unpredictable up there.  Two seconds after the above photo the sun showed up (an also the butterflies and moths).

We followed Alfred through some roads and trails.  We crossed a Canopy Lodge birding group and found many others beauties like White-ruffed Manakin, Black-faced Grosbeaks, and even a male Green Thorntail seeking for insects under the leaves of a tree.  Itzel was lucky enough to get some photos that she posted in her blog.  A highlight was a paved trail all the way to the continental divide, where we saw more typical birds... including the local subspecies vividus of Tufted Flycatcher, which is less brightly colored than the subspecies in western Panama (but brighter than the birds of eastern Darien).

This trail runs along a mountain creek and offers the ideal habitat for my nemesis: the Dull-mantled Antbird.  In fact, its spanish name say it so: Hormiguero Guardarribera, with guardarribera meaning something like the one that guards the bank.  A lovely trail for sure!

Guess what!... it is still my nemesis bird in spite of Alfred attempts to lure out one of them. It was a great trip anyway, full of MANY others special birds (including that Orange-bellied Trogon that I missed), but I'll return for my Guardarribera! 

Evening escape to Cerro Azul

Cerro Azul, in the foothills east of Panama City, is a popular birding destination due to its large tracks of forests... but more important, the strong community of resident birders always letting us know the last sightings of rare birds up there!  That's why Osvaldo Quintero, Itzel Fong (and her spouse Javier) and I went to Cerro Azul late in the afternoon after the news of Black-eared Wood-Quails showing in the backyard of our friends William and Esther Adsett.  According to them, the birds visited the property almost at dark, so we first checked a fruiting tree right by the front deck attracting many birds.

These Bay-headed, Speckled and Golden-hooded Tanagers were part of a big flock including also Green Honeycreepers, Scarlet-thighed Dacnis, Carmiol's Tanagers and many more.  It was very entertaining, and we spend a lot of time trying to get pictures... but it was getting dark, so we moved to the forest, finding many understore dwellers like Scaly-breasted Wren, White-breasted Wood-Wren, both Cocoa and Spooted Woodcreepers, Black-faced Anthrush and a cooperative female Spotted Antbird (but alas, no wood-quails).

Just a couple of hours, but full of birds and friends.  We didn't see the wood-quails... but that is a good reason to return!

Miltoniopsis sp. (roelzii?)

Birding the forest or the backyard?

When birding the Chiriquí highlands in western Panamá, the variety birds is so high, that even inside the forest you can cross a huge flock with many different species.  In other parts, usually you see more birds in the open habitats and the forest borders, but here... well, you'll see.  During our last journey to the highlands, I managed to get some shots of both forest and backyard birds.  Lets start with the common ones, we found the next species in the gardens and streets of the little town of Guadalupe, above Cerro Punta.  Of course, the ubiquitous Rufous-collared Sparrow is impossible to miss!

Not only singing adult birds, also immatures were around, as you can see in the second photo.  Another singing bird was this male Flame-colored Tanager.  We saw several pairs of these well-named tanagers.

With a sweet voice too, these Yellow-bellied Siskins were quite busy feeding in these bushes.  Male, female and immature male in quick succession.

Another hard-to-miss species in the highlands is the Slaty Flowerpiercer.  Notice the unique bill, adapted to steal the flowers' nectar.

An impressive (and common) bird in the highlands is the Long-tailed Silky-Flycatcher.  Usually is seen perched very high in the trees, but this individual was very low taking some berries.

However, it is in the forest were most of the rare and elusive species are (except, of course, if you find a Lincoln's Sparrow sharing a field with Rufous-collareds!).  Just minutes from Guadalupe,  La Amistad International Park offers an excellent opportunity to see these special birds, like the Barred Becard attracted after playing a tape of its call.

Or the Large-footed Finch feeding in the forest floor.

A hard-to-see bird is the strange-looking Wrenthrush (though I prefer its spanish name: Zeledonia).  More often heard, my marginal photo shows at least the main field marks of this species, the ball-shaped body and the contrasting orange crown.

The last bird we saw in the park is a relatively common one; however, for some reason I had missed this one in my more than 15 years of birding in Panama (and other countries)... my life Lineated Foliage-Gleaner really really put on a show for us, giving exceptionally good views and photograph opportunities.

That is the way to end a trip to the highlands!  

The Quetzal culture

Considered by some as the most beautiful bird on Earth, the Resplendant Quetzal is a denizen of highlands forest from southern Mexico to western Panama.  In our country... specifically at the Chiriquí highlands, this bird is well-known and much easier to see than in most parts of its wide range.  There, the image of the long tailed male (although is not its tail after all... more on that later) is a common sight in signs, logos, murals, and so on...

Like this painting in the bathroom wall of a little restaurant at the entrance of La Amistad International Park (above Las Nubes town), or the stone sculptures in the grounds of Los Quetzales Lodge in the town of Guadalupe, representing a couple feeding by hand some quetzals.

But more important... you can actually see them!  March is probably the best month to see flying males in the right habitat (as we did this year).  This splendid male was in an Aguacatillo tree (a preferred fruit) at Los Quetzales cabins, inside La Amistad International Park.  The bright, metallic green is hard to describe, but the contrasting underparts and tail is sublime.

 However, the Resplendant Quetzal is worldwide known by the extremely elongated supracaudal (above the tail) feathers.

Any day with quetzals is a good day!

Western highlands' endemic empids and pewees

The highlands of Costa Rica and western Panamá are a high endemism area for birds (and other wildlife), as we verified in our last trip to the Chiriquí highlands of western Panamá.  As you may guess, I'm going to write only about a though group of flycatchers, often hard to identify: empids (Empidonax ssp) and pewees (Contopus ssp).  Curiously, the next highlands endemics are very distinctive, easily recognizable... nothing to do with the northern species of impossible look-alikes!

See what I mean?  This handsome flycatcher is the Black-capped Flycatcher, found usually very high in the mountains.  Not the best photo, but the bird is gorgeous anyway.  Usually, you get more distant looks, like the one I got in my last trip above El Respingo of a bird perched and vocalizing high on bamboo.

The next species is distinctive in range.  The Dark Pewee is, certainly, very similar to other species both to the north and the south, but you can id it only by range.  No other pewee species in Panama (or Costa Rica) is as uniformly dark and large as this one.

A very typical pewee species, it always is found perched on an exposed high branch, waiting for the insects to pass... then catching them with a short fly and returning to the same branch.  This is a common sight in Chiriquí highlands... not like our next species:

Right!  The Ochraceous Pewee is a genuine rarity in the panamanian part of its range, found only in some very specific sites... absent in most of the apparently perfect suitable habitat up there.  Our guide, Ito Santamaría, heard and then attracted this couple to mere 3 meters from us at Los Quetzales cabins inside La Amistad International Park.

They were lifers for me and for Osvaldo Quintero (who first saw the birds just above our heads), a lifer that I will never forget!

Feeders-mania!

Birding is not only about seeking for specialties in remote tracks of forest or distant sites... sometimes, the birds come right next to you... specially if you attract them!  So, sometimes we just relax and wait in front of a feeder, as we did in our last trip to Panamá's western highlands.  See these photos, for example, from the bed-&-breakfast of our great friend Glen at Nueva Suiza, Cielito Sur.

This is just a sample, Clay-colored Thrush and Cherrie's Tanagers feeding side-by-side.  In this photo you can see the field mark that separates the female Cherrie's, its bright colored chest.  We saw also Palm and Blue-gray Tanager, and a shy Buff-throated Saltator that only allowed a photo out of the feeder.

But the star was a common migrant to Panamá, the magnificent male Baltimore Oriole (and yes, we got Baltimore Orioles in Panamá, just like those in the caps).

The number of species depends of many factors like season, regularity (that is, how often you attend the feeder), type of food (grains, fruits, and so on...) and location, which is probably one of the most important.  Imagine a feeder like this, but inside a tall montane forest... yes, like those at Los Quetzales cabins, inside La Amistad International Park.  Check the first photo... how many species can you count?    I'll talk about those species next, but first check out who else visited this feeder.

Yes, the Ruddy-capped Nightingale-Thrush was very confiding around the feeder, allowing nice photos.  This species is quite widespread, just like the Chestnut-capped Brush-Finch.

But these feeders also attracted endemic birds, including two antagonists: first, the Yellow-thighed Finch is quite common, usually found in groups, working the middle and low levels of the forest.  A black bird with conspicuous yellow thighs.

In contrast, the uncommon Black-thighed Grosbeak is a solitary canopy dweller.  A yellow bird with incospicuous black thighs.  All these birds just feet from our hands!

Only a sample, as I said!